Wednesday, May 30, 2012

CHARLES TAYLOR GETS 50 YEARS IN JAIL FOR WAR CRIMES

Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years in prison for war crimesJudge at court in The Hague says ex-Liberia president's crimes were of the 'utmost gravity in scale and brutality'


CLICK LINK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/30/charles-taylor-sentenced-50-years-war-crimes?newsfeed=true

Email Owen Bowcott and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012 11.16 BST
 
Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor listens to the judge passing his sentencing at the court in The Hague. Video: Alice Salfield Link to this video Judges at an international war crimes court have sentenced Liberia's former president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for war crimes during the long-running civil war in Sierra Leone.

Taylor was found guilty last month of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002 in return for conflict diamonds. He was convicted of offences including murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and pillage.
Delivering the sentence on Wednesday, Judge Richard Lussick said Taylor's crimes were of the "utmost gravity in terms of scale and brutality".
"The lives of many more innocent civilians in Sierra Leone were lost or destroyed as a direct result of his actions," Lussick said.
Taylor showed no emotion as Lussick handed down what will effectively be a life sentence.
Prosecutors had asked the special court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) to impose an 80-year prison term.

Lussick said an 80-year sentence would have been excessive as Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting crimes and not direct involvement.
But the judge added that Taylor was "in a class of his own" compared to others convicted by the United Nations-backed court.
"The special status of Mr. Taylor as a head of state puts him in a different category of offenders for the purpose of sentencing," Lussick said.
The 64-year-old warlord-turned-president is the first former head of state convicted by an international war crimes court since the second world war.
Taylor's sentence is likely to be served in the UK, which has offered to take him once his trial and appeal are completed. The civil war left more than 50,000 dead in the west African state.
Taylor's defence lawyers have told the court that exiling him to Britain's jails – where a Serbian war crimes convict was attacked in his cell two years ago – would leave him "culturally isolated" and constitute a "punishment within a punishment".
In an interim sentencing hearing, the court's chief prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, a former US military prosecutor, said: "[His] positions both as president of Liberia and within the west African regional bodies distinguish him from any other individual that has appeared before this court.
"Taylor's abuse of his authority and influence is especially egregious given that west African leaders repeatedly entrusted him with a role to facilitate peace."
In his final address to the UN-backed tribunal the 64-year-old denied encouraging human rights abuses during the prolonged civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, insisting he had in fact been trying to stabilise the region.
The court should deliver its sentence in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution", said Taylor, who offered no admission of wrongdoing or words of remorse. "I express my sadness and sympathy for crimes suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone," he told the panel of judges at the SCSL.

"What I did to bring peace to Sierra Leone was done with honour. I was convinced that unless there was peace in Sierra Leone, Liberia would not be able to move forward. I pushed the peace process hard, contrary to how I have been portrayed in this court."

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Charles Taylor's ex-wife: 'He's not responsible for Sierra Leone war crimes' -  The Guardian Reports


After a five-year prosecution, the international criminal court reaches a verdict this week in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Here Jewel Taylor, his former wife, now a Liberian state senator, says the peoples of Sierra Leone and Liberia need to move on from their pasts


CLICK LINK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/apr/25/charles-taylor-wife-war-crimes-video

Thursday, May 17, 2012

GUILTY CHARLES TAYLOR! LAST WORDS BEFORE SENTENCE TO JAIL

GUILTY FORMER PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA- CHARLES  GANKAY TAYLOR LAST WORDS TO THE HAGUE COURT .." I AM NOT A THREAT TO SOCIETY" HE IS TO BE SENTENCED ON 30TH MAY 2012.







                                   CLICK LINKS BELOW  AND READ ON

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/341826/20120516/charles-taylor-sierra-leone-hague-trial.htm


"A special court will deliver the first international judgment against a former head of state Thursday when it rules on whether former Liberian president Charles Taylor armed rebels in Sierra Leone in the 1990s in exchange for diamonds ... "
http://www.france24.com/en/node/5318464


http://www.france24.com/en/20120426-liberia-charles-taylor-faces-justice-sierra-leone-war-crimes-impunity


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Breaking News? Thanks to awareness times-
May 22, 2012, 17:17


Maada Bio took Part in Killings on Lakka Beach -Says Brother of former SLPP Spokesman

http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200520321.shtml
                                           
An Open Letter addressed to Julius Maada Bio, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and sent exclusively to AWARENESS TIMES from London has stated, for the first time, that the SLPP Presidential Candidate “...took part in extra-judicial killings which were conducted in a depraved... manner”.


The Open Letter, authored by former Police Superintendent Mohamed El Tayyib Bah also reveals, again for the first time to the public, that the location of the extra-judicial killings was not at SAJ Musa’s house as had been semmingly alleged by Maada Bio to Truth & Reconciliation Commission but on LAKKA BEACH along Freetown peninsular “where the innocent souls were transported in a Black Maria prisons van”.


“You were present when they were marched out of the Black Maria van, one after the other, to their deaths on the beach at you and your colleagues hands,” Bah writes.


Continuing his Open Letter, he states, “You were present at the scene on the beach where late Police Chief James Bambay Kamara, dedicated Police Superintendent Sieh Bangura, the gallant Military Colonel Yaya Kanu, the military lawyer Kawuta Dumbuya, the international Film Actor Salami Coker, his pregnant girlfriend Salamatu Baby Kamara and many others breathed their last breath. Why are you misleading the country that it was a SAJ Musa affair at his house?” the retired police officer asks.


Mohamed Tayyib Bah, who interestingly happens to be the elder brother of former SLPP Spokesman, late Ibrahim Tayyib Bah, insists in his Open Letter that Julius Maada Bio must come clean on a number of other points surrounding those detentions, torture and killings of December 29th 1992 including the “so-called coup investigations”.


Mr Bah faithfully served the Police from 1984, through NPRC regime where he worked closely with Maada Bio before he was most unprocedurally terminated by a Maada Bio headed Police Council in 1994; two years after the murders on Lakka Beach.


AWARENESS TIMES is with-holding full publication of Tayyib Bah’s letter until we get extensive comments on it from Bio who was expected back in Freetown last night.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MAADA BIO- A CARICATURE!

ARE YOU MAaDa?? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CRAZZY? JULIUS MAADA BIO  FOR PRESIDENT? YOU MUST BE A JOKER.

  UNISA THORLU CONTEH POSTED THIS CARICATURE OF THE SLPP BAD CHOICE PRESIDENTIAL FLAG BEARER. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? WAS THIS A STRATEGIC DECISION TO HOODWINK SIERRA LEONEANS? OR, DO THE SLPP HEIRACHY THINK SIERRA LEONEANS ARE STUPID.

 READ ON
                                                                        MAADA BIO: COMING WITH COMPLETE BAGGAGE


" SLPP FLAG BEARER JULIUS MAADA BIO HAS BEING GRANTED ENTRY VISA TO VISIT BRITAIN , AND HE IS SCHEDULE TO TALK AT THE FORTHCOMING EVENT AT CHATHAM HOUSE. SIERRA LEONEANS IN BRITAIN AND AROUND THE WORLD DESERVES THE RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NOTORIOUS MASS MURDERER

Julius Maada Bio was born on May 12, 1964 in Tihun, a small rural town in Sogbini Chiefdom, Bonthe District which is close to the main commercial town of Mattru Jong in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Bio is one of 35 children born to Mende Paramount Chief Charlie Bio II of Sogbini Chiefdom . Bio's father had nine wives. Bio is named after his paternal grandfather, who was also a paramount chief of Sogbini Chiefdom. You can now imagine why this man is so power conscience and can do anything to gain power, even if it involves slaughtering his own fellow citizens or betraying his own best friend, Comrade's and Country's oath .
Bio began his primary education at the Roman Catholic Primary School in Mattru Jung. After finishing his early years in primary school, Bio was sent to the town of Pujehun to live with his older sister Agnes Bio. Agnes Bio was a primary school teacher in pujehun. Bio completed his primary education at the Holy Family primary school in Pujehun.(Agnes Bio was also a head of the Junta rebel led By Foday sankoh). This is a family that is so desperate for power and can do anything out of the ordinary to fight for power. They are capable, I repeat very capable to even have their grand childrens go to bush to fight for power in Sierra Leone .

At the completion of his primary education, Bio's elder sister Agnes, enrolled him at the Bo Government Secondary School in Bo, commonly known as Bo School. This is a famous boarding school and one of Sierra Leone's most widely recognized secondary schools. Bio spent seven years at Bo School, rising to become school Prefect by bullying his way up through his older Sister Agnes’ influence . Bio graduated from Bo School in 1984 with A-level at age 20.

After graduating from secondary school, Bio applied to enter Fourah Bay College in Freetown in 1985 at age 21. However Bio changed his mind about college and instead enrolled in the Sierra Leone Armed forces military academy and was deployed for military training as a cadet officer at the Benguema Military Training Academy in Benguema, a town located just outside Freetown in October 1987. He was directly under the command of Major Fallah Sewa, who was head of cadet trainings at the military academy. At the military academy Bio built close friendly relations with his fellow cadet officers Valentine Strasser,Solomon Musa and Sahr Sandy.

Bio graduated from the Military academy as a Second Lieutenant in the Sierra Leone Army in October 1987 at age 22. His first posting as a soldier was at the Lungi Garrison in Port Loko District in 1987. Bio was later sent to Kambia District as part of the Economic Emergency Unit, created by President Joseph Saidu Momoh to combat the deepening meltdown and criminality across Sierra Leone. In 1988, Bio was re-posted to Lungi to be trained by the United Nations forces in aviation security. After the training, Bio was posted to Benguema as a commander.

In 1990, the Sierra Leone Government sent to Liberia some members of the ‘ECOMOG” peacekeeping force to battle the rebels of the Liberian Civil War that was fighting to overthrow the Liberian Government. Bio and several other Sierra Leonean soldiers, including Captain Valentine Strasser, and Seargon Solomon Musa were deployed to Liberia as part of Sierra Leone’s contribution to ECOMOG. At the time, thousands of Liberians were fleeing to Sierra Leone weekly, exposing the country’s fragile security and adding to the economic hardship. Instead of Bio and Comrades to carry out their Military responsibilities as Soldiers to defend our boundaries and help defend our allies, instead they built a relationship with the Liberian rebels through Foday Sankoh to invade Sierra Leone after they have helped destroy Liberia.

After a year in Liberia as an ECOMOG soldier, the Sierra Leone Government ordered Bio and several members of Sierra Leonean soldiers serving in Liberia to immediately return to Sierra Leone and report to the army barracks in Daru, Kailahun District. He was a member of a 600 battalion of soldiers set up by the then President Momoh in order to squash a rebellion of rebels known as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) that had just begun in villages in Jaluahun Chiefdom, Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone in March 1991. The soldiers included later NPRC members Seargon Solomon Musa,Captain Valentine Strasser, Lieutenant Sahr Sandy and Captain Tom Nyuma. Unknowing to the Sierra Leone Government under the Leadership of President Joseph Saidu Momoh, more related evidence about rebels planning to attack Sierra Leone were exposed and revealed to Bio and Cohort. They used those Information to counter attack our Country and killed thousand's of Sierra Leoneans and destroy their own Country . Military Soldiers were supposed to defend and protect their Country at all times, but instead, Bio and Comrades turned out to become a betrayer of their Country. Bio and Comrades helped the rebels indirectly to murder hundreds of their fellow Countrymen all because of the thirst of power. Bio and Comrades killed unconstitutionally and as soldiers they were supposed to face court-marshall. However,due to the Peace process agreement by the "TRC "and "ICC" he was able to walk away scotch-free and move to United states of America to further his education .

 On April 29, 1992, Bio was one of a group of six young Sierra Leonean soldiers that included CaptainValentine Strasser, Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, Surgeon Solomon Musa, Captain Tom Nyuma and Captain Komba Mondeh that toppled President Joseph Saidu Momoh's All People's Congress (APC) government in a bloodless military coup. The young soldiers formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Strasser as their leader and Head of State of Sierra Leone.

Bio's first appointment following the formation of the NPRC was as the Secretary of State South, stationed in the country's second capital Bo. He was later moved to Freetown to serve as Secretary of State in charge of Information and Broadcasting. At this point, he was promoted to Captain alongside other junior lieutenants. As a leading member of the coup that kicked out the APC government, Bio served as SCS member throughout the NPRC's stay in power and when Strasser's deputy, captain SAJ Musa, was sacked and exiled to the UK, Bio was appointed to the position. Bio attained that position as SAJ’s successor by intimidating Valentine Strasser that Captain SAJ Musa was going to overthrow him, Bio knew exactly what he was planning to obtain and he gradually became a gossiper between Strasser and SAJ.


On January 16, 1996, Bio lead a military coup, to kick out captain Valentine Strasser following a division within the governing Supreme Council of State (SCS). This was all over whether to seek peace with the RUF before multi-party elections planned for March 1996 or to go ahead with the elections notwithstanding the ongoing war in the Country and the conditions for participation of junta members in the elections. The Coup was backed by many high ranking NPRC soldiers including Colonel Tom Nyuma, Lt Colonel

Komba Mondeh, Lt Colonel Reginald Glover, and Lt Colonel Karefa-Kargbo. Strasser then the leader of the NPRC and the military Head of State of Sierra Leone was handcuffed and put at gunpoint by his own military bodyguards who were supposed to protect him and was immediately flown into exile in a military helicopter to Conakry.

Within the few months that Bio took office as Head of state of Sierra Leone, he emptied our entire Treasury department, sold our Country’s Passport to Foreign Countries that raised significant awareness of the international World. This also raised many eyebrows of his fellow sierra Leoneans. He embezzled millions of dollars and invested in Ghana, bought a Mansion in America,
not a single investment was made by Bio in Sierra Leone. A vote for Maada Bio in my humble opinion is a vote to cripple Sierra Leone economy and a boost to the Ghanian Government and employment for the people of Ghana. How can any patriotic sierra Leonean cast a vote for a Presidential candidate that does not seek the interest of the People of Sierra Leone or cannot even boast of a single business or house in Sierra Leone? How Patriotic is Bio to invest in Ghana instead of Sierra Leone?
 According to Pablo Casals (the great Spanish cellist)
“The love of one’s country is a splendid thing but why should love stop at the border "?
Bio officially became a member of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) in 2005. That same year, Bio sought the leadership of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) at its national convention in Makeni on September 3–4, 2005. He took third place, with 33 votes, behind Vice President Solomon Berewa, who received 291 votes, and Charles Margai, who won 34 votes. In the Sierra Leonean press, Bio was quoted in 2007 as saying he would overthrow a new APC government if the APC won the 2007 election. According to Bio he thinks he will be getting backing from the international world. He also added that if the "appalling" conditions that existed in 1992 were to return, he would seize power again. and even one of his close members in his current campaign group currently living in Australia Mr. John Idriss Lahai also stated in a public radio in Sierra Leone in 2007 that the SLPP will go back to bush if the APC Party wins the Presidential election in 2007. Mr. John Idriss Lahai,at one point sent out an article directed to APC Genius Mr. Foday Morris Sesay bragging about sneaking the Former President of Ghana Mr. Jerry Rawling illegally to Sierra Leone, holding a secret meetings with Maada Bio immediately after he won the Flag bearer ship of the SLPP Party .   
  Jerry Rawlings 1985     
Any Patriotic Citizens of Sierra Leone will wonder why these Men are involving a Former dictator of Ghana and a total foreigner for that matter in Sierra Leone Politics, what is their motives and why sneaking Mr. Jerry Rawlings into Sierra Leone illegally to hold secret meetings with Maada   Bio?   The answer is unknown, we all just have to wait and see the outcome of these incompetent so- called Politicians of SLPP and UN-Patriotic Citizens of Sierra Leone that are so desperate and bent to take power over the ruling APC government at all cost.



The million dollar question, every Sierra Leonean should be asking themselves or that is supposed to raise the eyebrow of every Sierra Leonean is
"Now that Bio is the flag bearer of the SLPP facing the same APC Party, will Bio return to the bush after losing the Presidential election to the APC Party in 2012".? Is there any hidden agenda from the SLPP Party to use Bio as a way to invade Sierra Leone into another Civil unrest by choosing Bio as their Flag bearer? My answer is YES YES YES. He has done it before, there are possible motives and speculations that he might do it again. Simple motivational reasons are because he is broke and needed to furnish payment for his properties been seized by the Ghanian Government for tax invasion in Ghana. 
He also suffered from voluntary deportation from the USA, and divorce from his wife Frances Bio for abusing her at their mansion in Fairfax in Virginia USA.

He cannot brag of a single house of his own or even any business or property that he own in Sierra Leone. Currently he is using the Chairman of SLPP Vehicle. He does not even have a car of his own, he is a sole-loser and he his capable to do anything to raise money, and beside he is very power hungry.

On the night of 31 July 2011, Julius Maada Bio won the vote to become the SLPP's 2012 Presidential Candidate at the SLPP convention, which was held at the Youyi Building in the heart of Freetown. He will face off with President Ernest Bai Koroma of the ruling APC on November 17 2012 . President Koroma is the Alpha and Omega of Sierra Leone, the best President Sierra Leone has ever had.
He is a savior and the only President so far that put the interest of all Sierra Leoneans over his political affiliation. He is working tirelessly around the globe to rebuild our cripple economy from the preceding government (the SLPP). President Koroma’s dying intentions is to see Sierra Leone compete with the rest of the international World, and to see us become one of the major donor in Africa in the next 20 years. Every Sierra Leonean that seek the interest of Sierra Leone at heart can’t help it but to love this man. He is a man with a loving and peaceful heart. He is very altruistic and has a good sense of empathy.



This topped up with a good work ethic and his wonderful personality and attributes makes him nothing but the           best President to win the elections in November 2012.

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives, I like to see a man live so that his place would be proud of him~~~~Abraham Lincoln~.